Over three days in the last week of May, 57 children from afar had their cleft lips or palates repaired at a Mission Smile camp held at Techno India Dama Hospital on the Bypass. They came from the Sunderbans and Cooch Behar, Murshidabad and Midnapore. One even came all the way from Ranchi in Jharkhand. The best part is that the families, mostly from underprivileged backgrounds, did not have to foot the bill for the surgery.

“This is the third year that we have tied up with Techno Dama Hospital. They offer the entire operation set-up free. The surgeons and the nursing staff volunteer for the surgeries. We also offer the families pre and post-operative support by way of medicines and nutrients. Even their transportation, boarding and lodging are taken care of during surgery,” said Conrad Dennis, CEO of Mission Smile.

The result of this partnership has been 119 surgeries in the last two camps, to which 57 were added this time. “This is not just a medical programme but a social movement for the uplift of the underprivileged. After the surgery, when they come for the follow-up check-up, the relief on the faces of the parents and the smiles of the children are our greatest rewards,” said Dr Sourabh Ghosh, medical director of the hospital.

A child with a cleft lip who would be operated on at the camp

Mission Smile has clocked 482 surgeries in West Bengal before this camp. “As an organisation, we have done 49,500 surgeries across India over 29 states and union territories ever since we started in 2014 in Kerala,” said Dennis, thanking Muthoot Pappachan Foundation for sponsoring the mission.

The foundation not only foots the expenses for the surgeries as part of the group’s CSR activities but the staffers of Muthoot FinCorp also fan out to the rural corners in search of surgery candidates. “This is the 11th year of our partnership and this is our 60th mission. We have accomplished 3,244 successful surgeries across the countries,” said Prasanthkumar Nellickal, head-CSR of the foundation, adding that the programme has been acknowledged by the ministry of corporate affairs as one of the top 11 CSR projects in the country.

The Techno India Dama Hospital camp was the first of eight missions lined up for the year. But Dennis pointed out that surgeries take place round the year. “We have four centres in Bengal — Techno India Dama Hospital in Salt Lake, South Eastern Railway Hospital in Kidderpore, Metro Railway Hospital in Tollygunge and Hiramani Memorial Hospital, Krishnanagar. If you know of a child with cleft lip or palate, bring him or her over to any of these centres and surgery will take place free of cost, or rather sponsored by Muthoot.”

Children have to reach the required body weight to be fit for surgery. Malnourished children are given special supplements for a year to bring them up to the level. “Haemoglobin has to be over nine and body weight above six kg at the age of six months for cleft lip surgery and nine kilograms when they are nine months old for cleft palate correction. People come to us from across eastern India,” said plastic surgeon Manish Mukul Ghosh, who has been volunteering for the mission for over a decade.

A child with cleft palate requires more urgent intervention as he can’t eat. “Ten per cent of such children die before they reach the first birthday,” Dennis said. “We also teach mothers how to feed breast milk to a child with cleft lip. There are video clippings to help them understand the technique. Cleft palate babies also have to be taught to speak clearly through speech therapy after the surgery.”

The simplest cases are done at Krishnanagar while complicated surgeries take place at the SER hospital,” said the surgeon.

The mission also offers training courses for doctors. “We have surgeons from south India and Bhopal coming to learn how to do these surgeries so that they can start on their own in their respective regions,” Dr Manish Mukul Ghosh said.

The Assam government, he pointed out, has given Mission Smile an entire hospital with five operation theatres where children from across the Northeast are operated. “The system is such that word reaches us whenever a child is born with cleft lip or palate across the Northeast states and treatment starts immediately,” the surgeon said. “We are looking for partner hospitals in the districts to spread the service across West Bengal,” he added.